0:00:07 > 0:00:10- Welcome.- Hey, Andrew. How are you? - Hi, Tom.- You all right? - Very, very well indeed.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12Fantastic.
0:00:12 > 0:00:13Come through.
0:00:13 > 0:00:18'There has never, never been a better time to be a political journalist...
0:00:19 > 0:00:23'but, after a stroke which nearly killed me four years ago,
0:00:23 > 0:00:25'everything has become just a bit trickier.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27'It's a brain thing.'
0:00:28 > 0:00:31The whole point of this, there is an area of my brain, probably now about
0:00:31 > 0:00:34the size of a small tomato, which simply doesn't exist.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39To get any movement back, to get the brain working on those movements,
0:00:39 > 0:00:43subconscious or conscious movements, I have to regrow
0:00:43 > 0:00:44or rewire the brain.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47- Good.- I do this better when I'm not being filmed.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50And that requires endless repeated actions -
0:00:50 > 0:00:53hints and nudges to help the brain regrow.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56It's a very strange mix.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00There I am, lifting up tiny little bits of plastic and putting them
0:01:00 > 0:01:04into a bowl as if I was a three-year-old at a nursery school
0:01:04 > 0:01:07while, at the same time, trying to work out what's the best approach to
0:01:07 > 0:01:09a Cabinet crisis. Yeah, it's... Talk about multitasking.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17I really don't want to do that much of this on camera.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19I've had enough of this.
0:01:20 > 0:01:21I said no.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25PHONE RINGS
0:01:25 > 0:01:27- Is that my phone? - Yes, yeah.- Ooh, could you get it?
0:01:27 > 0:01:31I'm sorry. It could be Iain Duncan Smith.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34What... We've got him? Brilliant. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! That's fantastic news.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37OK. The whole day is going to go well.
0:01:37 > 0:01:38Great, OK.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41- 'OK, I'll talk to you later.' - Thanks, Rob. Cheers.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44We have Iain Duncan Smith. That's brilliant.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47Our political editor, Andrew Marr, is at Westminster.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50'I've been a journalist for more than 35 years.'
0:01:50 > 0:01:53- Mr President, thank you so much. - Thank you so much. I enjoyed it.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58'But in a single moment, at the age of 53, my life changed forever.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02'For a while, I couldn't even speak properly, and I still haven't recovered
0:02:02 > 0:02:05'the full use of my left side.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09'I want to know more about what's happened to my brain...'
0:02:09 > 0:02:11Goat and train.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14- This is the left hemisphere. - It looks like a mad cabbage.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18'..how stroke affects the million-plus survivors in Britain...'
0:02:18 > 0:02:20You can sing, but you can't talk.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24- Is that right?- Yes.- '..and visit America for a striking new treatment.'
0:02:24 > 0:02:26'Hi!
0:02:26 > 0:02:28'It's me!'
0:02:28 > 0:02:29I can talk!
0:02:29 > 0:02:31I can walk!
0:02:31 > 0:02:36'So this is a very personal story at a time of huge political change.'
0:02:36 > 0:02:40This means that the UK has voted to leave the European Union.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42This is the biggest story I've covered.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44'Recovering from stroke's a different kind of story.
0:02:44 > 0:02:50'It's intimate, sometimes embarrassing and, in this, I am nothing special.'
0:02:50 > 0:02:52Everything is worth a go.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54I will try everything or anything.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02RADIO BULLETIN BEEPING
0:03:02 > 0:03:04'In the past few minutes, it's been announced that
0:03:04 > 0:03:08'the Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, has resigned.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11'There's been a row over one of his reforms to disability payments.'
0:03:11 > 0:03:15My week begins a little blearily at six every Sunday.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18- Brenda?- Here.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20- Good morning.- Good morning.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22I have some friends with me this morning.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24Oh, I see. Hi. Good morning.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31I arrive in the morning, looking like a kind of pink, blobby lump of human chaos,
0:03:31 > 0:03:35and Brenda transforms me into a glowing Adonis...
0:03:35 > 0:03:36SHE CHUCKLES
0:03:36 > 0:03:37Ish.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40- INTERVIEWER:- So how long have you known Andrew?
0:03:40 > 0:03:43Since the beginning of the show, really.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45- Ten years, 12 years.- Ten. Yes. Yeah.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51And everybody who comes on the show gets make-up because the lights on
0:03:51 > 0:03:54the TV studio are so harsh that, if you don't have make-up,
0:03:54 > 0:03:56you look like you are a living corpse.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58We don't want that.
0:03:59 > 0:04:00We've got an hour yet.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02An hour to go.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05'Oh, it was a terrible shock.'
0:04:05 > 0:04:07Really.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10It's one of the worst things that could happen, really, cos I thought, my God, is it his voice?
0:04:11 > 0:04:15But thankfully the voice and the brain is as sharp as ever.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18And this is my office.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Quite often, in this office, you arrive and somebody has been sleeping
0:04:21 > 0:04:24overnight and there's a kind of ripe smell,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27a few socks and a blanket and so on, but not today, I'm glad to say.
0:04:29 > 0:04:30- Rob?- Yeah?
0:04:30 > 0:04:33IDS, Mail On Sunday, the strongest paper?
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Looks like it, yeah.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37'I think everyone was completely shocked by it,'
0:04:37 > 0:04:39you know. Even people who didn't know Andrew
0:04:39 > 0:04:42but just knew of him through his TV career.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46They were completely shocked by it and, if you're on the outside, you don't
0:04:46 > 0:04:47have any idea of the severity of it.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50Think again on benefits cuts,
0:04:50 > 0:04:53Iain Duncan Smith warns the Prime Minister...
0:04:53 > 0:04:57But clearly he's a very driven man so he was determined to come back.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Because you're cutting taxes for the better-off at the same time as you're cutting
0:05:00 > 0:05:03benefits for disabled people. Do you think that's unfair?
0:05:03 > 0:05:07Juxtaposed as it is, as it came through in the budget,
0:05:07 > 0:05:08that is deeply unfair.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11'I always rather naively assumed that strokes were something which
0:05:11 > 0:05:13'happened to much older people.'
0:05:13 > 0:05:18It never crossed my mind that someone as relatively young and fit
0:05:18 > 0:05:21as Andrew could possibly have a stroke.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Although there's lots of arguments about why strokes happen to
0:05:25 > 0:05:29individuals, I am fairly clear in my own mind about why my stroke happened.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32I think the cause of the stroke was frankly two years of
0:05:32 > 0:05:36excessively hard work where I was travelling the world, making a TV documentary
0:05:36 > 0:05:39and writing a long book at the same time
0:05:39 > 0:05:42while simultaneously doing Start The Week on Radio 4
0:05:42 > 0:05:44and The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46It's as if you've left Britain behind, almost.
0:05:46 > 0:05:47Why the long silence?
0:05:49 > 0:05:52He'd always been a workaholic, ever since I first met him, and so we
0:05:52 > 0:05:55just thought that was the way he was and that he would always be fine
0:05:55 > 0:05:57because he did keep fit at the same time.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59He was immensely fit.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03I think there were two occasions when he felt funny and he had to
0:06:03 > 0:06:09have a lie down. Now, those signs, obviously, in hindsight probably were signs.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12It was 99% my own fault for driving myself ridiculously hard.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16You had come on kindly to review the papers.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18- Yes.- And we were sitting at breakfast.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21- We were.- And you thought I looked pretty iffy.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25I remember vividly. You said to me, "You can rest when you're dead."
0:06:25 > 0:06:27We've plenty of time to rest when you're dead.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31That's exactly what you said, and I thought, oh, OK.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33You know, flip remark, left it at that,
0:06:33 > 0:06:35and then, of course, the very next day...
0:06:37 > 0:06:40It actually happened when I was on a rowing machine,
0:06:40 > 0:06:41overdoing it, like a lot of men.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43I was pushing myself too hard.
0:06:48 > 0:06:49I just felt very odd...
0:06:51 > 0:06:53..and I started to get a really bad headache and then I got kind of
0:06:53 > 0:06:57cascades of blinding light, like, quite pretty, actually.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59A bit like rainbows in front of my eyes.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02Went to bed, assuming it was a migraine...
0:07:03 > 0:07:07..and then the next thing I remember was waking up on the floor of the bedroom, unable to get up.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12AMBULANCE SIREN WAILS
0:07:12 > 0:07:14Then things happened very fast.
0:07:14 > 0:07:21An hour later, I was in hospital fighting for my life and, frankly, losing.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35Quite strange to be back.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38It's such an intense time when you're here, you know? It's all kind of...
0:07:38 > 0:07:40It's like another world.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44You go back into the real world then you come back here again, yeah.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Strange.
0:07:47 > 0:07:48- BEEP - 'Pull the door, please.'
0:07:48 > 0:07:49Oh, hello. Thanks.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53There we go, it worked.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55This is the first time I've been back to the ward since.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59- Hello.- Hello.- Hello, we're here filming.
0:07:59 > 0:08:00- Welcome.- Thank you so much.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02- Just to have a look? - Yes, just to have a look.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06- We have your room over there. - That was my room there, wasn't it? H?- Yes. Still empty now.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08- Is it?- Yeah, today it's empty.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11OK. Can I have a little peer inside?
0:08:11 > 0:08:13- Yeah, sure.- That's kind of you.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15Thank you very much. Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah.
0:08:28 > 0:08:29That was where I was.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33- INTERVIEWER:- How long were you here in this room for, then?
0:08:33 > 0:08:35I was in this room for two months.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37Yes, I'm pretty sure it was two months.
0:08:39 > 0:08:40Most of it conscious,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43most of it kind of reading and thinking and all the rest of it.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45Popping out of that bed endlessly.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47Well, not popping. I couldn't pop in those days.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51There's a big cemetery down there,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54which kind of cheers you up when you're kind of low -
0:08:54 > 0:08:57to know that's where you might end up.
0:08:57 > 0:08:58I never thought that I was going to die...
0:09:00 > 0:09:01..but other people did.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06Well, first of all, they said he might not pull through at all and so,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09for several days, we were faced with that prospect.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11But then they said, even if he did pull through,
0:09:11 > 0:09:16he might have lots of mental deficiencies and he may be completely paralysed.
0:09:18 > 0:09:19Jackie said to me, you know,
0:09:19 > 0:09:23they'd been told twice that I was going to die and then a third time that
0:09:23 > 0:09:26I was going to make it, but I'd be basically a cabbage in a wheelchair.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32For the first five days, I was pretty much out of it.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37When I came round, trying to work out what day it was, I reached for the diary.
0:09:37 > 0:09:38So this is my writing.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40It's not very neat, before the stroke...
0:09:41 > 0:09:44..and then this is after the stroke. See the writing goes all over the place?
0:09:46 > 0:09:50And I'm doing virtually no drawing at this point and then suddenly I start
0:09:50 > 0:09:54to do some drawing because these are terrible poems, which I'm not going to
0:09:54 > 0:09:56allow to be broadcast. Yes, there's a drawing.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59It's my bad hand sitting in this hospital bed.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01Various cards and stuff behind me.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05And then again, there's a drawing, I think, of that... Yes,
0:10:05 > 0:10:07there's the hospital bed.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10There's the view. "Hammersmith Skyline, February the 21st."
0:10:10 > 0:10:12And that's the kind of mayhem on the bed.
0:10:12 > 0:10:17Lots of crumpled sheets, books, tissues, bits of this and that.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20They're not great drawings, but they show that I was drawing again,
0:10:20 > 0:10:21which is a good sign.
0:10:23 > 0:10:24Flowers from Rupert Everett.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28Handwritten letters from Judi Dench, Tony Blair, Boris Johnson,
0:10:28 > 0:10:33Vince Cable, Ed Miliband, most of the Cabinet, Gillian Ayres.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36Messages from David Hockney, Chris Patten, Tony Hall.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38So I'm quite proud of that, you know,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41at the same time as I may be quite close to dying.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45- It's very strange. - Any tear-stained pages?
0:10:45 > 0:10:47No tear-stained pages.
0:10:47 > 0:10:48You know me better than that!
0:10:50 > 0:10:52I think there is no...
0:10:52 > 0:10:56there is no kind of human crime worse than self-pity.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00I think that's the most nauseating kind of human quality of all.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05- Hello again. How nice to see you. - How are you?- I'm very, very well.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08- How are you?- Well. Well, you're looking very well.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12The neurologist, Omid Halse, discovered the cause of the stroke -
0:11:12 > 0:11:16an interruption to the blood supply to the brain.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20- In the internal carotid artery, there was a tear in that artery.- Mm.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22So, a little tear, and it was made in quite a severe narrowing.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24But because it's in the lining of the inside of the artery,
0:11:24 > 0:11:27what it actually causes is this turbulent blood flow,
0:11:27 > 0:11:29and it means clots can build up where that tear is.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32So, basically, eventually it blocks the artery?
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Blocks or causes clots of blood to flick off further upstream.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39What you can see here, this artery, which should be a normal, thick,
0:11:39 > 0:11:41kind of a pipe, like where my arrow is...
0:11:41 > 0:11:43- Yes, yeah.- ..narrows down quite dramatically.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47- And is that where the stroke, as it were, occurred?- Well, this is where the tear occurred.- Yeah.
0:11:47 > 0:11:48This was the cause of the stroke.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52A bit of clotted blood went upstream and blocked a small artery
0:11:52 > 0:11:54in the brain.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56It's great to see... See you in the flesh,
0:11:56 > 0:11:59to be honest, and see how you've done so fantastically well.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02- Likewise, actually, likewise. Really good to see you.- Yeah.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04You did a great job. Thank you.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07And I hope everything continues to go along well with it.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11I'll let you get to the next Andrew Marr sitting on a gurney downstairs.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13- All right, thanks a lot.- Take care.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15'I'd become part of another statistic.
0:12:15 > 0:12:20'Stroke is the biggest cause of disability in the UK.'
0:12:20 > 0:12:23At first he couldn't do anything at all. He couldn't get out of bed.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28We needed two nurses, three nurses to help him go to the bathroom
0:12:28 > 0:12:32and he had nothing at all in the left arm and the left leg, so, erm...
0:12:32 > 0:12:35But at that time we were just so pleased he'd pulled through
0:12:35 > 0:12:37that the disability seems very unimportant.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44This has lots of memories. I spent a lot of time here.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47When I came in here, they knew I wanted to go back on television.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50My voice was really very poor at that time,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53so they actually rigged up a home-made autocue for me to read.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56I think it was just sat there, and I sat and read the autocue
0:12:56 > 0:12:58for hours and hours and hours.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00So, you've got a moving screen with the words on it
0:13:00 > 0:13:03and you have to look at the camera and read the words.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06- Hello!- Hello.- How lovely to see you, Marick.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08- Lovely to see you. Fantastic.- Yeah.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12Two fantastic physiotherapists who got me on my feet and got me going
0:13:12 > 0:13:14right at the beginning. Without which, I would not have recovered.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17- So, thank you very much indeed. - That's a pleasure.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19Was it you that did the autocue for me?
0:13:19 > 0:13:22- Yes.- Yeah! You see?- That's right. - That's fantastic.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25I remember one evening sitting and just thinking,
0:13:25 > 0:13:30how we can help you to go back to work, and I came up with autocue.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32Brilliant, brilliant. It helped a lot, yeah.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35I don't know if it was yourself or Jackie who asked,
0:13:35 > 0:13:37"Will the hand get better?"
0:13:37 > 0:13:40- I can do that much.- Yeah, so that's... That's a change, yeah.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43- And I can move the arm around a bit. - Yeah.- And it's going to get better yet.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46- Good, good.- It's a work in progress, Jenny, it's a work in progress.
0:13:46 > 0:13:47- Yes.- Yeah.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52It's been quite mildly stressful coming back.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56Quite odd. I mean, it's lovely to see people like Marick,
0:13:56 > 0:14:00who I worked with very closely, and Jenny...
0:14:00 > 0:14:01and the doctors as well.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04They did a wonderful job on me and I'm really grateful,
0:14:04 > 0:14:05and it's lovely to see them again,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08but being back in the same place where it all happened
0:14:08 > 0:14:09is a bit weird.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15You're looking for me to be emotional. I'm not going to be emotional yet...
0:14:15 > 0:14:17or possibly ever.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20- I was not!- Yes, you were.- I was not. - You wanted a little tear.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22You're not going to get a tear.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24I'm not that kind of person.
0:14:27 > 0:14:28Once you get out of hospital,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31you don't have nearly enough support for people.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35Physiotherapy is expensive and lots of people aren't very motivated.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37You need people to motivate you
0:14:37 > 0:14:39and then to actually do the work with you
0:14:39 > 0:14:40for a long, long time to come.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43Months and very often, certainly in my case, years.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46And that's expensive and most people don't have the money for it.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50'I'm pretty clear about why my stroke happened.'
0:14:50 > 0:14:53Now, I think it's time for tea.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56'But what exactly did it do to my brain?'
0:14:56 > 0:14:57Ooh, bugger!
0:14:57 > 0:14:59'And its function?'
0:15:02 > 0:15:05Professor Cathy Price has been studying stroke survivors
0:15:05 > 0:15:07for 20 years.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10And now she's going to show me the extent of the damage.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12- Nice to meet you.- I'm Cathy. - Hello, Cathy.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15What we aim to do is to have a look to see, first of all,
0:15:15 > 0:15:17where your stroke is,
0:15:17 > 0:15:21- and then we hope to ask you to do a few things in the scanner...- Sure.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23..and we'll see how your brain is activated.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25Which bits of the brain light up when I'm doing different things?
0:15:25 > 0:15:30- That's right.- If any bits light up!- I'm sure they will.- Worrying if nothing does!
0:15:30 > 0:15:33And then we look to see which bits are compensating
0:15:33 > 0:15:36for the loss of the lost bits.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39And as part of the compensation that will tell us
0:15:39 > 0:15:42how different regions are talking to one another.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49'Before I clamber into the scanner, I need to get rid of all metal.'
0:15:49 > 0:15:52No money, no keys.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56'Including the brace I wear to support my paralysed left foot.'
0:15:58 > 0:16:01I think the last time someone peered into my cranium was about
0:16:01 > 0:16:02two years ago.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04In terms of the structure, it will be fascinating to see
0:16:04 > 0:16:06if there's been a change over the last couple of years
0:16:06 > 0:16:08when I've been recovering from the stroke,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11and getting more functional use back of my limbs, and so forth.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14But has the brain itself changed? I don't know.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24Goat and train.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26Zebra and fence.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30'The scanner detects increased blood flow in those areas of my brain
0:16:30 > 0:16:32'activated when I describe...'
0:16:32 > 0:16:34Man and lion.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37'..a series of simple images.'
0:16:37 > 0:16:40The dolphin is jumping through the hoop.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43The penguin is eating the fish.
0:16:43 > 0:16:44The whale is jumping in the sea.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51And the lighting up bits, you need more time to process.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53- For those, we do...- Yeah.- ..because there, we have to compare,
0:16:53 > 0:16:58- how did the signal change from... - Yeah.- ..every scan to another time?
0:16:58 > 0:17:00Interesting.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03- You can see immediately where your stroke is.- There.- Here.- Yes.- Yes.
0:17:03 > 0:17:04Quite big...he said.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06THEY LAUGH
0:17:06 > 0:17:08- It's a relatively small stroke... - Is it? All right.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11..compared to many of the others. So...
0:17:11 > 0:17:13if we come down here,
0:17:13 > 0:17:17here you can see the undamaged putamen,
0:17:17 > 0:17:19in the left side of the brain,
0:17:19 > 0:17:24and here you can see that the same structure of the right hemisphere
0:17:24 > 0:17:28is very dark, and that's where the damage has occurred.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31So, this dark area here is...
0:17:32 > 0:17:34..what has been lost.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39And, em...
0:17:39 > 0:17:43There's just a tiny little bit of damage here to the caudate.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46And the caudate is also involved in the control of, um...
0:17:48 > 0:17:50..motor systems.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54That includes the control of speech and decision-making.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56So, looking at this,
0:17:56 > 0:18:00is this classic for somebody who can't really move their arm and leg very well?
0:18:00 > 0:18:04Yes. It's also quite a common, common stroke as well.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07I say! How very dare you!
0:18:07 > 0:18:09THEY LAUGH
0:18:09 > 0:18:12So, this is a 3-D movie of your brain. This is the left hemisphere.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14It looks like a kind of mad cabbage.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16Yes! A mad cabbage, that's right.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20- And that's the red area.- The red area is the part of your brain
0:18:20 > 0:18:23that's been damaged by the stroke.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27'The putamen and caudate on the right side of the brain
0:18:27 > 0:18:30'are part of a network which regulates movement,
0:18:30 > 0:18:32'including that of the mouth,
0:18:32 > 0:18:35'which is why both my speech and mobility were affected.'
0:18:39 > 0:18:41But I was very lucky.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44I got my speech back within a few weeks.
0:18:44 > 0:18:49One in three patients suffers for much longer.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53In Plymouth, Lorraine Dunn had a stroke four years ago...
0:18:53 > 0:18:55Yeah, remember that?
0:18:55 > 0:18:57..but her speech never properly came back.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03I...
0:19:04 > 0:19:07I don't...
0:19:07 > 0:19:08know...
0:19:11 > 0:19:13..what...
0:19:15 > 0:19:17..is going on.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21SHE SIGHS
0:19:21 > 0:19:23- Hello.- Hello.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25Nice to meet you. I'm Andrew.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29'Lorraine's case is unusual, because although she can barely speak,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32'she can vocalise coherently in...
0:19:32 > 0:19:34'well, another way.'
0:19:34 > 0:19:38# Show me the way to go home.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42# I'm tired and I want to go to bed
0:19:42 > 0:19:46# I had a little drink about an hour ago
0:19:46 > 0:19:49# And it's gone right to my head. #
0:19:51 > 0:19:52- APPLAUSE - Yay!
0:19:52 > 0:19:57And do you find it easier to sing than to speak, as it were, normally?
0:19:57 > 0:19:59Yes. Very good.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01It's funny, so the words come when you're singing?
0:20:01 > 0:20:06- Singing.- Is it the rhythm? The movement, is it, that helps, do you think?- Yes.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10As Lorraine's shown she can do it for counting
0:20:10 > 0:20:14and for saying the days of the week.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18So, once she's got a rhythm and she's learnt the pattern
0:20:18 > 0:20:20and the routine,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23then she can recite it without
0:20:23 > 0:20:26stumbling over her speech.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29Have you seen your brain before?
0:20:29 > 0:20:33- No.- As we come into the left hemisphere, here,
0:20:33 > 0:20:35can you see this dark area here?
0:20:35 > 0:20:39- This is where the stroke... - Oh, yes.- ..has affected you.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42My stroke was in the right hemisphere,
0:20:42 > 0:20:45and hit a part which controls the mechanics of speech.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50But Lorraine's was on the left side, in areas that regulate
0:20:50 > 0:20:53the thought processes behind speech.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58So, when we see somebody like Lorraine who can sing,
0:20:58 > 0:21:02but can't form normal sentences, or finds it very hard to do so,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05that suggests that it must be, part of the brain there is for singing,
0:21:05 > 0:21:07and part of the brain is for talking.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09But I suspect it's much more complicated than that.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12Or, perhaps, it's simpler than that.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15She's using the same part of her brain
0:21:15 > 0:21:18for speaking and for singing,
0:21:18 > 0:21:20but she needs more than that.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23She can't initiate her speech because she's lost something else,
0:21:23 > 0:21:26which is the mapping between what she's thinking,
0:21:26 > 0:21:29and the words that she wants to produce.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32- # ALL:- Memories are made of this... #
0:21:32 > 0:21:36'I temporarily lost the mechanics of speech -
0:21:36 > 0:21:39'frozen lips, saggy tongue.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43'Lorraine lost the ability to originate language,
0:21:43 > 0:21:46'to scramble for the right words, in the right order.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49'But her memory is still intact,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51'which is why she can still sing.'
0:21:51 > 0:21:53- WITH MUSIC:- Ba-bum bum.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55APPLAUSE
0:21:56 > 0:22:01My speech returned because of something essential to this story -
0:22:01 > 0:22:05the brain's ability to rewire and work around the problem.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09Today, I'm going to show you the results of the experiment you did,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12one that we called a functional imaging experiment.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15This is where you ask the questions and I respond and we see, what,
0:22:15 > 0:22:17if anything, in my brain lights up?
0:22:17 > 0:22:18That's right, yes.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22And we're going to look to see whether or not the stroke
0:22:22 > 0:22:25has changed how you produce speech,
0:22:25 > 0:22:27because we know that your speech has recovered,
0:22:27 > 0:22:31but it might have recovered because the rest of your brain
0:22:31 > 0:22:34can compensate for the loss of the area that's been damaged.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37The lit up areas show activity during speech
0:22:37 > 0:22:40that isn't usually seen in undamaged brains.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45In other words, it shows how my brain is finding new ways around.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49So, you've already seen the structure of your brain before...
0:22:49 > 0:22:53- Yes, yes.- ..and this is just a cut through this way,
0:22:53 > 0:22:58which is where you can see this very discrete stroke, here.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02- Yes.- The dark area.- The leaf shape. - Yes, a leaf shape, here.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04And when we look to see what's happening
0:23:04 > 0:23:06when you're producing speech,
0:23:06 > 0:23:10we see, here, that this part, here,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14- the globus pallidus, is highly activated.- Right.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17Now, we don't know if this is because
0:23:17 > 0:23:20it's playing a functional role to help you with your speech...
0:23:20 > 0:23:22So, what we're saying is an area right beside,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25or approximate to where the stroke happened
0:23:25 > 0:23:27seems to be activated more.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29That's correct, yes.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33We have also seen this isn't the only region that's changed.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37You also have more activity in your left cerebellum.
0:23:37 > 0:23:42And you also have more activity in your supplementary motor area.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46And you also have more activity, here, in the dorsal part
0:23:46 > 0:23:48- of your premotor cortex. - I'm very busy.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50You are very busy, indeed.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53So, what is interesting, here,
0:23:53 > 0:23:56is that you've had damage to
0:23:56 > 0:23:59just the right putamen and the right caudate.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04Other parts of your brain have become very busy to help compensate,
0:24:04 > 0:24:06and this is during speech, of course,
0:24:06 > 0:24:10so what we're showing is, these areas have enabled you to speak.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13But, clearly isn't sufficient to enable you to be able to use
0:24:13 > 0:24:16your hand as well as you used to be able to.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20OK, so my brain can rewire for speech,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23but it's not doing the same for my arm and my leg.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28Ever since I left hospital, I've been paying for
0:24:28 > 0:24:31twice-weekly therapies from Tom Balchin,
0:24:31 > 0:24:35a stroke survivor himself, who concentrates on physical strength...
0:24:36 > 0:24:41..and Jo Tuckey, for mainstream physiotherapy.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43What I'm doing is a lot of,
0:24:43 > 0:24:46perhaps, more precise movements, at the moment,
0:24:46 > 0:24:48and it's very much aimed at getting
0:24:48 > 0:24:51more control in fingers,
0:24:51 > 0:24:53wrists, and arms.
0:24:55 > 0:24:56OK, and stop.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00I went on a detox diet to give myself the best chance -
0:25:00 > 0:25:04no booze, or tea or coffee for four months.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07I'm losing weight. Yes, I've lost quite a bit of weight.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10My tummy, which was referred to by the family as Murphy, has vanished.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14We now play a game called Where's Murphy? He's gone. He's vanished.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16So that's good news, I guess.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20Despite all of this, I know that I'm not getting much better.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24In the jargon, I have plateaued.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26We talk about plateau...
0:25:26 > 0:25:30With Andrew, I'd say, certainly in his arm and his hand,
0:25:30 > 0:25:34we'd get little bits of new movement,
0:25:34 > 0:25:38but I'd say for the last 12 months we haven't seen anything.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44This is a frustration experienced by many stroke survivors,
0:25:44 > 0:25:48but I am going to try something different.
0:25:48 > 0:25:53So, now I'm off to the Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford,
0:25:53 > 0:25:55which is one of the places that they do this
0:25:55 > 0:25:58transcranial electrical stimulation,
0:25:58 > 0:25:59which is simply, as it were,
0:25:59 > 0:26:02warming up bits of the brain with electrical current.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06And the idea is that if you do it in combination with physiotherapy,
0:26:06 > 0:26:08you get better results after doing this.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11I have no idea at this stage whether it will work for me,
0:26:11 > 0:26:13but as far as I'm concerned, at this stage in my recovery,
0:26:13 > 0:26:15everything is worth a go.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17I will try everything or anything.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22'This treatment's based on a trial which was carried out on 24 patients
0:26:22 > 0:26:25'whose recovery, like mine, had stalled...'
0:26:25 > 0:26:27- This is Emily, who's going to be doing...- Hello. Andrew.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30'..and they improved. But will I?'
0:26:30 > 0:26:33So, what Emily's going to do first of all is just measure
0:26:33 > 0:26:37a few points on your head so that we know where to put that electrode.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41It's going to go into here to complete our circuit.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43It's a sort of hot, prickly feeling.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46Smoke begins to come out of my nostrils.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48And a strange smell of burning flesh.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51And apart from that, it's absolutely fine.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53So, when we're stimulating,
0:26:53 > 0:26:56we are putting a very low-level current through the brain.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00So, it's about a milliamp, which is about a 10,000th of what goes through a light bulb.
0:27:00 > 0:27:01So, it's very small.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05And what we think that does is just increase the activity
0:27:05 > 0:27:07in bit of the brain that we're stimulating,
0:27:07 > 0:27:09and we think that helps the brain to learn
0:27:09 > 0:27:13whatever it is you do at that point in time. So, we're going to do that
0:27:13 > 0:27:16whilst Andrew is doing some movements with his hand...
0:27:16 > 0:27:18So, pushing it in. Really good.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21..in the hope that that will help those movements to happen.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26They've measured my hand and arm movement -
0:27:26 > 0:27:28these are standard tests -
0:27:28 > 0:27:30and they'll do it again at the end of the therapy.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35He's got a lot of strength in some of his muscles,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38and he's got a lot of determination, and those are really...
0:27:38 > 0:27:40That's the most important thing, really.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43So, we'll keep going, we'll keep doing the best we can,
0:27:43 > 0:27:47but we just have to see whether or not it has any effect.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50'There is no part of this I enjoy.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52'I will be gently electrocuting my brain
0:27:52 > 0:27:56'and twisting bloody beanbags for the next three weeks.'
0:27:56 > 0:27:57That's good.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59As you can see, those are very, um...
0:27:59 > 0:28:02unpleasant and boring exercise for me to do.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05The question is, do I improve on them, you know?
0:28:05 > 0:28:08So, I wasn't doing particularly well in any of those compared with
0:28:08 > 0:28:11what I was doing a couple of years ago. I don't think I've seen much improvement
0:28:11 > 0:28:14on those particular ones. On other things I have seen improvement, but not those.
0:28:14 > 0:28:20So, we'll see if, over the next couple of weeks, they get better. That's the question. We'll see.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23'Transcranial brain stimulation is based on the theory
0:28:23 > 0:28:26'that we can regrow our brains -
0:28:26 > 0:28:29'a process known as neuroplasticity.'
0:28:30 > 0:28:34Professor Heidi Johansen-Berg is in charge of the Oxford trial.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36So, what you can see in this video...
0:28:36 > 0:28:39So, this is where they've grown brain cells in a dish.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43What they are showing is that if you squirt a bit of glutamate -
0:28:43 > 0:28:46so, this is one of the chemicals that the brain uses to communicate -
0:28:46 > 0:28:49you squirt a bit of glutamate onto those brain cells,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52sort of recreating as if the brain were being active,
0:28:52 > 0:28:55then you can see these little processes that are growing
0:28:55 > 0:28:57- in response to that squirt of chemical.- Yes.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00So, this is recreating what's going on in your brain all the time.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03- Every time...- Just like Gardener's World, really, isn't it?
0:29:03 > 0:29:05Yes. Certainly. You see them growing up there.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08So, this conversation is making parts of our brain
0:29:08 > 0:29:11- alter themselves.- Absolutely, yes.
0:29:11 > 0:29:12- Yes.- Fascinating.
0:29:14 > 0:29:16I think plasticity is really interesting.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18I think we all have this notion we've learned...
0:29:18 > 0:29:22Once you've got your brain, then it doesn't change very much.
0:29:22 > 0:29:23This is 100% wrong.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26Our brains are changing all the time.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28What we do affects who we are,
0:29:28 > 0:29:31and I think that is the ultimate lesson of brain plasticity.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37'So, if stimulating the brain is good for you, then at long last,
0:29:37 > 0:29:39'I've got an excuse for staying busy.'
0:29:39 > 0:29:43Hello, it's that time of year when we turn to the light side.
0:29:43 > 0:29:45Tilted a little more towards the sun...
0:29:45 > 0:29:49The amount of work he does... Um...
0:29:51 > 0:29:53I don't know. I wouldn't do it.
0:29:53 > 0:29:54I have a butterfly mind.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56I alight on a subject very briefly,
0:29:56 > 0:29:59suck a little bit of moisture out of it, and then flutter off again.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02I'm not very good at long-term concentration.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05- Saturday, I've got Tom coming. - Tom, yeah.- And then, show.- Show.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10'Of course, you don't want to overdo it.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12'Overwork helped to cause my stroke,
0:30:12 > 0:30:15'but I'm plagued with a very short attention span.'
0:30:15 > 0:30:18Andrew's never going to be the sort of person that is going to sit there
0:30:18 > 0:30:20and do nothing. So for him,
0:30:20 > 0:30:25not working is almost as stressful as working too hard.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27"When I am sad and weary.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30"When I think all hope has gone.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33"When I'm walking down High Holborn.
0:30:33 > 0:30:34"I think of you with nothing on."
0:30:34 > 0:30:35LAUGHTER
0:30:35 > 0:30:38He could work every day of the week, seven days a week, you know,
0:30:38 > 0:30:40ten hours a day, if he wanted to.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42Because he's... Everybody wants a piece of him.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45I'm working really hard at the moment. I'm making films,
0:30:45 > 0:30:46I've got the Sunday programme,
0:30:46 > 0:30:49I've got Start The Week, I've got a social life and a family life
0:30:49 > 0:30:51to cope with.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55'So, if there's a morality tale here about Andrew Marr working too hard,
0:30:55 > 0:30:57'here's the ironic twist -
0:30:57 > 0:31:00'the Oxford trial has to be squeezed in as well.'
0:31:00 > 0:31:02Death looms.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05He's endlessly interested in these... In different things.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07It's the grave, its necrosis.
0:31:07 > 0:31:12"China. Oh, I really want to do a six-part series on China."
0:31:12 > 0:31:14And all that's left is a stench.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17I'm not quite sure what drives him, no.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20Madness.
0:31:20 > 0:31:21And it's coming soon, aye!
0:31:21 > 0:31:23THEY LAUGH Sorry.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27Do you worry you might have another one?
0:31:27 > 0:31:30It's always at the back of your mind.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33There's the famous stroke-survivor's adage that Robert McCrum
0:31:33 > 0:31:36told me about - "It's the second stroke that kills you."
0:31:37 > 0:31:40Now, of course, it would be very convenient if politics
0:31:40 > 0:31:43went gentle and quiet for a while.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47But as you may recall, that isn't quite what happened.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50- NEWSREADER:- The people have voted for a new destiny for Britain.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53This means that the UK has voted to leave the European Union.
0:31:55 > 0:31:56It is a decision...
0:31:56 > 0:31:59- Morning.- Morning.- Rob?- Yeah?
0:31:59 > 0:32:01- Lots to talk about.- I know, I know.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03Not to talk about on camera, though.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06- No, no. I know. Um, there's a huge number of changes, obviously.- Yeah.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10It should be a good show. It's extraordinary times.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13We've got so many political crises all happening at the same time,
0:32:13 > 0:32:15we don't quite know what's what.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17This is the biggest story I've covered.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21On Friday morning, the resignation of the British Prime Minister -
0:32:21 > 0:32:23for story number two, or story number three?
0:32:23 > 0:32:26I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it...
0:32:26 > 0:32:30It wasn't the most important story. Imagine that.
0:32:30 > 0:32:32It's extraordinary.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35This is bigger than the fall of Margaret Thatcher, which is the other...
0:32:35 > 0:32:37It's bigger than the Falklands War.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40Plus, at the bottom here, "Sorry, Leavers, we'll have to keep free movement."
0:32:40 > 0:32:42Yes, that's a great one.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44You know, it's a huge, huge story.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46Hi, we can see Heidi Alexander's resigned.
0:32:48 > 0:32:49Is it bigger than the Iraq war?
0:32:49 > 0:32:51Well, that's a very, very difficult question,
0:32:51 > 0:32:55because huge numbers of people lost their lives in the Iraq war,
0:32:55 > 0:32:57and afterwards, and I don't think anyone's going to lose their lives,
0:32:57 > 0:33:00pray God, from now on, in this conflict.
0:33:00 > 0:33:01Looking across the papers,
0:33:01 > 0:33:04the overwhelming sense is that the entire British political class
0:33:04 > 0:33:06has been kind of toppled by this.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10'Politically, in terms of the British political set-up and establishment,
0:33:10 > 0:33:13'the relationship between that and the British electorate'
0:33:13 > 0:33:16is the biggest story of my lifetime.
0:33:16 > 0:33:17But then, I'm young.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21'Keep calm and carry on.'
0:33:21 > 0:33:24And never a moment when we required it more.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27And now, over to Andrew Neil at Westminster for more on this
0:33:27 > 0:33:28extraordinary morning.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30Take his press, take his press.
0:33:30 > 0:33:32- APPLAUSE - We are off the air.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34Fantastic show.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47You're not going to make me look like
0:33:47 > 0:33:49Ed Miliband with his bacon sandwich, I hope.
0:33:52 > 0:33:54Oh!
0:33:54 > 0:33:57The most interesting political fact in the last 12 hours -
0:33:57 > 0:34:00Alastair Campbell has a ketchup phobia.
0:34:00 > 0:34:04He hates ketchup. He can't even see the sight of ketchup sachets.
0:34:04 > 0:34:05Isn't that extraordinary?
0:34:08 > 0:34:11This whole Primrose Hill thing,
0:34:11 > 0:34:13it's a bit absurd for anyone coming from Scotland.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16This would not be regarded as a hill at all.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19I suppose "Primrose Nipple" doesn't sound as good.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24'The stroke affected every single area of my life.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27'For instance, we moved from a large home in the suburbs
0:34:27 > 0:34:31'to a much smaller one, bang in the centre of London.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34'Even for me, a perfectly walkable walk
0:34:34 > 0:34:37'away from the BBC headquarters.'
0:34:37 > 0:34:39Nous arrivons, mon dieu.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45'But in the centre of town I need space.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47'I need somewhere to be really messy.'
0:34:47 > 0:34:51Did you hear that? A rat the size of a pony on the bird table.
0:34:51 > 0:34:52It's a very exciting neighbourhood, this.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56'I suppose you could say, somewhere to splash around.'
0:35:01 > 0:35:04So, this is my personal, private, pleasure ground.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06It's where I come to hide from the world.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08It's my painting studio.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11And whenever I'm stressed, whenever I've got time, I just come here
0:35:11 > 0:35:14and I paint. It's what matters to me most.
0:35:14 > 0:35:15It matters to me more than politics.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17It matters to me more than stroke recovery.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20It matters to me almost more than anything else in the world.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25Gosh.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27That shut you up!
0:35:28 > 0:35:31Oh, this is Zandra.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34Former literary agent, former all-sorts-of-kinds-of agent,
0:35:34 > 0:35:37who owns this house and has been incredibly kind to me.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40And has saved my life over the last years, Zandra,
0:35:40 > 0:35:41by giving me place to paint.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45Well, "You saved my life" is a bit strong.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47I've been painting all my life
0:35:47 > 0:35:49and I very nearly went to art school.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52One of my big regrets in a way, is that I didn't go to art school.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55Maybe that was because I was just too scared.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57I don't know.
0:35:57 > 0:35:59- Scared of?- Scared of failure.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05Now, I think these are pretty interesting,
0:36:05 > 0:36:08because this is what Andrew was painting before his stroke.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13And they're lovely. And if you look at those and you think of those
0:36:13 > 0:36:16Hockney, Yorkshire landscapes...
0:36:18 > 0:36:20..they have that same thing in common.
0:36:20 > 0:36:22You can recognise the landscape if you happen to stand on that hill.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26- Yeah, they're not Hockney, though. - But, no, no. Wait, I was going to say something.
0:36:26 > 0:36:27But Hockney's pushed on
0:36:27 > 0:36:30somewhere else. He's exaggerated the direction of the truth,
0:36:30 > 0:36:32or he's done something, whatever...
0:36:32 > 0:36:34These don't exaggerate at all.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37They're as real, it seems to me, as they can get.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40I take my canvas out and look at a landscape,
0:36:40 > 0:36:42and then try to produce something which pretty much looks like
0:36:42 > 0:36:45what I was looking at. It was mimetic, I suppose.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49After the stroke, I really couldn't do that any more.
0:36:49 > 0:36:51Physically, it was just too difficult.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54That's the kind of painting I was doing before the stroke.
0:36:54 > 0:36:56That's the kind of painting I'm doing now. So, you can see,
0:36:56 > 0:36:59it's been a fairly radical change.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02Does that mean your personality's changed, do you think, since your stroke?
0:37:02 > 0:37:04You're expressing yourself in a different way?
0:37:04 > 0:37:07I think personality's too big a word to say that that's changed,
0:37:07 > 0:37:11but I certainly think my temperament has loosened up a lot since the stroke.
0:37:11 > 0:37:13I'm very much aware that we're only on this planet
0:37:13 > 0:37:15for a short period of time.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18I am much less tolerant of losing a day,
0:37:18 > 0:37:21or losing an hour, and I want to be in the moment.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23And...
0:37:23 > 0:37:25therefore, when it comes to something like painting,
0:37:25 > 0:37:27I want to be more extreme.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30If I can push something further, why not?
0:37:30 > 0:37:33There she is. Now you'll have to ask Andrew about this,
0:37:33 > 0:37:36because I don't really have much thoughts.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39- Oh, no, that's... No, no, no, no that's the wrong one!- Sorry.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42Oh, no, that's terrible! Terrible, terrible!
0:37:42 > 0:37:46- All right, we'll put it away. - Awful. Awful daub!
0:37:46 > 0:37:48'Although the paintings have changed,
0:37:48 > 0:37:51'my vision is unaffected by the stroke,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54'but for many survivors, that's not the case.'
0:37:55 > 0:37:58'Bob Coshott had a stroke eight years ago.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01'He's out to meet his wife of 25 years.'
0:38:01 > 0:38:03Well, I don't see anybody here.
0:38:09 > 0:38:13The lady reading the paper is the right build
0:38:13 > 0:38:15and colouring for my wife.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17There are other clues that I can use,
0:38:17 > 0:38:21she's wearing a very similar wedding ring.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23It makes me think it's more likely to be her.
0:38:27 > 0:38:29- I think you're Claire... - THEY LAUGH
0:38:29 > 0:38:31..and I claim my £5.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33Bob can't recognise his wife
0:38:33 > 0:38:36because he suffers from a rare condition
0:38:36 > 0:38:39called prosopagnosia,
0:38:39 > 0:38:41otherwise known as face blindness.
0:38:43 > 0:38:45His stroke damaged an area of the brain
0:38:45 > 0:38:48called the fusiform gyrus.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51In Bob's case, following his brain injury, he suffered damage
0:38:51 > 0:38:53to these areas, here. These are the
0:38:53 > 0:38:54areas at the back of your brain, here.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57- Right back here.- Right at the very back, at the back of your head.
0:38:57 > 0:38:59So, the expression that your eyes are in the back of your head
0:38:59 > 0:39:01is quite apt, really, cos
0:39:01 > 0:39:04that's where vision tends to take place in the brain.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07One way in which we test whether people have impairments with faces
0:39:07 > 0:39:10is to look at what we call famous face recognition.
0:39:10 > 0:39:13Bob, do you want to give us an idea on who you think this...
0:39:13 > 0:39:15No, I don't know who that is.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17That is Margaret Thatcher.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19Yeah. Margaret Thatcher.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22- But then without the hairstyle, and the famous blue...- It's much harder.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24And again, this is a key point, is that
0:39:24 > 0:39:27those kind of external cues are really what people
0:39:27 > 0:39:30- with prosopagnosia often rely on... - Exactly.- ..to recognise a face,
0:39:30 > 0:39:33and by taking them away it really causes problems
0:39:33 > 0:39:35with face recognition.
0:39:35 > 0:39:36I think it's Stephen Fry,
0:39:36 > 0:39:41but the reason I say that is that I know that he's got a bent nose.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43And what I'm picking up on is that specific feature
0:39:43 > 0:39:46- rather than the whole face.- Yeah.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49- And it's definitely Stephen Fry. - It is. It's definitely Stephen Fry.
0:39:51 > 0:39:55- No, I don't know.- Very, very ugly. No idea who that is(!)
0:39:55 > 0:39:57- That would be Andrew.- Oh, it's him! - Andrew Marr!
0:39:57 > 0:39:59THEY LAUGH
0:40:00 > 0:40:03Well, again, that shows you. Sitting next to the gentleman concerned,
0:40:03 > 0:40:06- and I don't recognise the image there.- Mmm.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09So, it's a little piece of analytical hardware
0:40:09 > 0:40:12- that you're lacking, if I can put it that way, Bob.- Mmm.- Yeah.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18'Bob may have to live with his condition for the rest of his life,
0:40:18 > 0:40:21'but I am not yet ready to accept my disability.'
0:40:21 > 0:40:23Other one going on the other side.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26'After three weeks of brain electrocution,
0:40:26 > 0:40:28'it's time to find out
0:40:28 > 0:40:30'if my left side movement has improved.'
0:40:32 > 0:40:34Good.
0:40:34 > 0:40:36'In a test at the beginning,
0:40:36 > 0:40:39'I scored 27 out of 57.'
0:40:39 > 0:40:42Can you try and put your hand behind your head?
0:40:42 > 0:40:44'What now?'
0:40:49 > 0:40:51OK.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55The numbers say that you've got one point better.
0:40:55 > 0:40:56Well, that's almost nothing.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00So it's... I think things are fairly stable.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03- There's a little bit of noise depending on how tired you are, what else has been going on.- Sure.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06So, I don't think we can say very much from that.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09I...I never say never to anything.
0:41:09 > 0:41:11But this time around, at this period,
0:41:11 > 0:41:14I don't think I've got a big improvement in it.
0:41:14 > 0:41:15You know, everything is worth trying,
0:41:15 > 0:41:18you never know what's going to work and what isn't going to work.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21- It's just a shame. We know some people improve with this...- And some don't.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24..some people improve less, you know. So, I'm sorry.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27Well, it was... No, no, it was an interesting experiment.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30- Thank you very much.- No, it's been very interesting, but...
0:41:30 > 0:41:33- Thanks.- Yes, I wish we knew in advance who it was going to help,
0:41:33 > 0:41:36- and who it wasn't.- Yes, well, you can't, of course, yes.
0:41:36 > 0:41:38Not at the moment. No. One day, hopefully, but...
0:41:41 > 0:41:43It's helped your recovery, hasn't it, the painting?
0:41:43 > 0:41:47Well... So, today...
0:41:47 > 0:41:49I've walked across Primrose Hill...
0:41:50 > 0:41:52..up and over.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55And I've now spent probably about an hour standing upright.
0:41:58 > 0:42:00It's more than that, isn't it, Andrew?
0:42:00 > 0:42:02Oh, I see. You're talking about psychology and emotions
0:42:02 > 0:42:05and all that stuff, he said crossly.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09I mean, I think, I suppose, if there's the bleak times
0:42:09 > 0:42:11when you think, "I'm not going to go back to work."
0:42:11 > 0:42:14That was a long time ago, now, but those sort of times.
0:42:14 > 0:42:15Or when you think,
0:42:15 > 0:42:19"I'm not going to recover properly", which I might well not...
0:42:19 > 0:42:22completely, then painting is a solace,
0:42:22 > 0:42:24because it's about nothing except painting.
0:42:24 > 0:42:25You know, it's not about anything else.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28It's not about the stroke, it's not about...
0:42:28 > 0:42:30career. It's not about politics.
0:42:30 > 0:42:34It's just about, "Will this red be improved if I put
0:42:34 > 0:42:37"a little bit more blue-black behind it or not?"
0:42:37 > 0:42:40And the answer is, yes, it will, in this case. Which is quite nice.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44'So, that Oxford trial was disappointing,
0:42:44 > 0:42:47'but there are other options...
0:42:48 > 0:42:51'..and one of them is taking place in Glasgow,
0:42:51 > 0:42:53'not so far from where I was born.'
0:42:55 > 0:42:57'Billy Elder had a stroke a year ago.
0:42:57 > 0:43:02'Just like me, he has limited movement on his left side.'
0:43:02 > 0:43:05- There you go, dear.- Thank you very much, dear.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09- Thank you.- Bet you think I do this all the time.
0:43:09 > 0:43:10He doesn't.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13SHE LAUGHS
0:43:13 > 0:43:16Loads of things you cannae do.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20Even in the pub, you've got to get somebody to go up and get your pint
0:43:20 > 0:43:22at the bar, and bring it over to you.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26It would be brilliant if they did get a miracle.
0:43:26 > 0:43:28I don't believe in miracles, right enough.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35Billy is about to have stem cells injected
0:43:35 > 0:43:38directly into the damaged area in his right hemisphere.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45He's one patient in a trial at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital
0:43:45 > 0:43:47run by Professor Keith Muir.
0:43:49 > 0:43:53The procedure involves implanting a dose of cells.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57We do that by injection deep into the middle part of the brain,
0:43:57 > 0:44:00close to where the damage caused by the stroke is.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04Professor Muir, can I just start right at the beginning
0:44:04 > 0:44:07and ask a kind of simple, daft, laddy question -
0:44:07 > 0:44:09what are stem cells?
0:44:09 > 0:44:12So, stem cells are the cells that we rely on to grow
0:44:12 > 0:44:14into all the tissues in the body.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17And they retain this ability to develop into
0:44:17 > 0:44:19lots of different types of cells.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22But stem cells have
0:44:22 > 0:44:24abilities to trigger response,
0:44:24 > 0:44:27which is going to stimulate repair,
0:44:27 > 0:44:29mobilising the body's own stem cells.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31DRILL WHIRS
0:44:31 > 0:44:362 million stem cells are injected into Billy's brain.
0:44:37 > 0:44:39The ones we are using in the particular trial
0:44:39 > 0:44:42are originally taken from tissue from a foetus,
0:44:42 > 0:44:44and the cells have been modified genetically
0:44:44 > 0:44:46so that they remain immortal.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50So, one sample of cells persists forever.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52So, there's a certain amount of the yuck factor, here.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55Is there any evidence at all, at this stage,
0:44:55 > 0:44:57that this actually works?
0:44:57 > 0:45:00What we observed in the first study was that there was some
0:45:00 > 0:45:02modest improvement in a group of patients
0:45:02 > 0:45:05who we wouldn't really expect to improve.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09That's your operation all finished, then, Mr Elder. All right?
0:45:09 > 0:45:11It'll be a couple of months before Billy knows
0:45:11 > 0:45:14whether the stem cells have made any difference...
0:45:16 > 0:45:20..but before I volunteer to have my bonce broken open,
0:45:20 > 0:45:23I'm looking further afield.
0:45:23 > 0:45:25Oh, yes, that's very suitable for Miami Beach.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28Thank you very much. I'm slightly nervous, because...
0:45:28 > 0:45:32- I'm a bit nervous.- What I'm nervous about is if it doesn't work,
0:45:32 > 0:45:34what will happen to morale?
0:45:34 > 0:45:36There's a chap in Florida, a doctor in Florida,
0:45:36 > 0:45:39who says he's operated on some 2,000 patients,
0:45:39 > 0:45:43of which 80% have seen significant improvements.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47If the figures are as good as he claims to be, then it is worth,
0:45:47 > 0:45:48certainly, having a go at it, I think.
0:45:50 > 0:45:54I'm heading to the United States for a new and controversial treatment...
0:45:55 > 0:45:59..an anti-inflammatory drug normally used for arthritis.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02Perispinal etanercept, which is what I'm getting,
0:46:02 > 0:46:06has not had big, randomised controlled trials,
0:46:06 > 0:46:09in a proper, approved, kind of, medical way.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12The fact that I have to go to Florida to a private clinic
0:46:12 > 0:46:14and pay out quite a lot of my own dosh to get the treatment
0:46:14 > 0:46:18shows that it is still an outlier. It's still, if you like, a bit dodgy.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21It may not work. It probably doesn't work for everybody,
0:46:21 > 0:46:23and it may be oversold.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26S-e-e-v-en...
0:46:26 > 0:46:29One of the treatment's biggest successes is Linda,
0:46:29 > 0:46:32a former teacher from Maine who couldn't speak
0:46:32 > 0:46:34until moments after the injection.
0:46:36 > 0:46:37Hi!
0:46:37 > 0:46:40It's me!
0:46:40 > 0:46:42Oh, my...
0:46:42 > 0:46:44If you watch her husband - I take it this is the husband -
0:46:44 > 0:46:46he's about to burst into tears.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49I can talk. I can walk.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51Haa!
0:46:55 > 0:46:57Woohoo!
0:46:57 > 0:47:00You can't get neural regrowth this fast.
0:47:00 > 0:47:01So, something odd is happening.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04It may simply be placebo effect, I don't know.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07But, on the basis of these kind of films, this is a miracle cure.
0:47:07 > 0:47:09Hi!
0:47:09 > 0:47:11For some people. Maybe not for me.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13HE LAUGHS
0:47:15 > 0:47:18I haven't heard of any adverse side effects,
0:47:18 > 0:47:21and all new ideas have to start somewhere,
0:47:21 > 0:47:23so I'm going to give it a go.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31We've come to Florida to meet Dr Ed Tobinick,
0:47:31 > 0:47:35who heads the Institute Of Neurological Recovery.
0:47:35 > 0:47:40He is not a neurologist. He started out as a skin specialist.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42- Pleased to meet you.- Hi.- Hi.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44I can do that with my fingers.
0:47:44 > 0:47:48I can move them out a bit, and I can bring them in but, as you can see,
0:47:48 > 0:47:49it's very limited.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53'His first task is to chart my plateau.'
0:47:54 > 0:47:58From my point of view, the single biggest disability I've got
0:47:58 > 0:48:01is my left ankle, which is completely out.
0:48:01 > 0:48:03Can you try to point your foot down?
0:48:03 > 0:48:05- OK, not really.- Not really, no.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08OK. I'm going to ask you to smile.
0:48:08 > 0:48:09Good.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12One...
0:48:12 > 0:48:13Two...
0:48:13 > 0:48:18Stroke causes a chronic inflammatory response
0:48:18 > 0:48:21in the brain that doesn't go away.
0:48:21 > 0:48:25It shuts down certain neural circuits in areas,
0:48:25 > 0:48:29particularly, that are around the area of the stroke.
0:48:29 > 0:48:34Etanercept works by neutralising a chemical
0:48:34 > 0:48:38that causes inflammation, thereby allowing those brain cells
0:48:38 > 0:48:42that were not able to talk to each other to communicate, and function.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46- How many...? How long was it? - Five minutes.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49Five minutes and nine seconds.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52- OK. There's our baseline.- There's the target, yeah.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57In terms of the injection itself, it really doesn't hurt,
0:48:57 > 0:48:59so you don't have to be concerned about...
0:48:59 > 0:49:02The needle is too short to...
0:49:02 > 0:49:04It cannot reach your spinal cord,
0:49:04 > 0:49:07so it cannot cause
0:49:07 > 0:49:11any problems from the injection itself.
0:49:11 > 0:49:16The treatment comprises just two injections, seven days apart,
0:49:16 > 0:49:19and at a cost of 7,000.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21I think we're ready to go, so we're going to...
0:49:22 > 0:49:26- ..cut off the cameras. Right? - That's right.- Yep.- OK.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29And I'll bring my team in.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35There's a leading scientist in the UK, a neurologist,
0:49:35 > 0:49:37and this is a quote from him, that...
0:49:37 > 0:49:41"You operate in the twilight zone."
0:49:41 > 0:49:44Mmm. I... I'm not familiar with that quote,
0:49:44 > 0:49:48but I can tell you that there hasn't been a neurologist from the UK
0:49:48 > 0:49:49that's come over.
0:49:49 > 0:49:54There have been other scientists from other parts of the world,
0:49:54 > 0:49:58from.... Neuroscientists from the United States have come and seen it.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01And they are very positive
0:50:01 > 0:50:04about the results and have said that they're...
0:50:04 > 0:50:07That our results are actually duplicating
0:50:07 > 0:50:10what they've seen in their animal studies.
0:50:22 > 0:50:24- You feeling all right?- I'm feeling fine, yeah.
0:50:27 > 0:50:28OK. So, you're feeling well?
0:50:28 > 0:50:31I'm feeling fine, yes, I'm feeling good.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33Can you tell anything has changed?
0:50:33 > 0:50:36It's... I... To be honest, not really.
0:50:36 > 0:50:37- Well, what about the face?- Yep.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41- What about the left side?- Yeah, I think that is a bit better.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43- Yeah.- Slightly improved on the left side, good.
0:50:43 > 0:50:46Yes, there you go, good. I think that's pretty good actually, yeah.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49- I think it's a little bit different. - Yeah, yeah.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54'Feeling slightly more alert,'
0:50:54 > 0:50:56and focused, perhaps, than I had been.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59Definitely had an impact of some kind.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02And then we've seen a range of slight improvements,
0:51:02 > 0:51:05I think on the shoulder, and possibly on the walking.
0:51:05 > 0:51:07And what I'm going to be doing over the next few hours
0:51:07 > 0:51:10is just constantly monitoring my walking. It'll be very weird,
0:51:10 > 0:51:12I'll be thinking about every step I take to see if there's
0:51:12 > 0:51:14a bit of extra fluidity of movement.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22The next day I'm less optimistic.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25- Hello, Andrew. - ON PHONE: 'Hello.'
0:51:25 > 0:51:27How did you sleep last night?
0:51:27 > 0:51:29'I slept very well, Ed. But, um...
0:51:29 > 0:51:33'I'm afraid, I don't think, for me, it's worked.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36'I've been to the gym, I've done a lot of self-monitoring.
0:51:36 > 0:51:41'Um... And I don't really see any change...
0:51:41 > 0:51:44'as disappointing as that is.'
0:51:44 > 0:51:49OK. And what has Jackie said about everything else? Or...
0:51:49 > 0:51:52'I... I... She rather agrees with me, I think.'
0:51:55 > 0:51:57He sounded a bit disappointed today.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01Yes. We'll have to see...
0:52:01 > 0:52:05how things progress over time.
0:52:08 > 0:52:10- Morning.- Good morning.
0:52:10 > 0:52:12'I am disappointed,
0:52:12 > 0:52:15'and that makes it hard to meet Linda,
0:52:15 > 0:52:18'who had such a miraculous response.'
0:52:18 > 0:52:20You had that very, very emotional, wonderful moment when you woke up
0:52:20 > 0:52:23and you could suddenly... You felt totally different.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25Yes.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28You can't even begin to imagine.
0:52:29 > 0:52:33When I came for the treatment, I anticipated,
0:52:33 > 0:52:37I expected, hoped for some improvement.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40- But I never dreamed... - That it would be that good.
0:52:40 > 0:52:42..that it would be that profound.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45At this stage in the process,
0:52:45 > 0:52:48I haven't had the same kind of improvements Linda has had.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52You... You had much less neurologic disability
0:52:52 > 0:52:57than the usual stroke survivor.
0:52:57 > 0:53:01You might have had less inflammation
0:53:01 > 0:53:03than the majority of patients.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06There's still a possibility that you'll have a delayed response
0:53:06 > 0:53:08to treatment, that can happen.
0:53:08 > 0:53:12And, you know, the fact that people characteristically
0:53:12 > 0:53:16improve within a few minutes, start to improve,
0:53:16 > 0:53:18- it's not really their total response.- No.
0:53:25 > 0:53:27And that is what happened.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31Over the ensuing week, I did start to see
0:53:31 > 0:53:34flickers of movement in my paralysed ankle,
0:53:34 > 0:53:35and my forefinger.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38Not a lot, but not nothing either.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41And then I came back for a second dose.
0:53:42 > 0:53:44Well, it appears you're still with us.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46Yes, I appear to be still here.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49Still alive, that's good news, that's a good start.
0:53:49 > 0:53:51Well, let's see how you do with bringing your knee up.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57You'll have to tell me if it feels any different.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00- It's so difficult, this. You're trying to kind of...- Hard to tell.
0:54:00 > 0:54:03- ..judge very small things over a period of time.- It's OK.- But...
0:54:05 > 0:54:06Point up.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12- There it goes.- That's actually a little bit...- There is a little bit of movement there.- Yes.- Reasonable.
0:54:12 > 0:54:13- Yes.- Good.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17There's definitely power there.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21- Yes, there is.- OK, then. That's important in walking.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24- Yeah.- Pushing off.- Yep.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26So there's movement in both directions.
0:54:26 > 0:54:28It's still a slightly uneven gait,
0:54:28 > 0:54:31but he seems to be going a little bit faster to me.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38- Here we are.- Yeah. Oh, that's great. 4.46.
0:54:38 > 0:54:40Five minutes and nine seconds pre-treatment.
0:54:40 > 0:54:45'23 seconds faster - not Usain Bolt, but a result for me.'
0:54:46 > 0:54:50When I came here, in my head, I was thinking about two possibilities.
0:54:50 > 0:54:55One is that I'd have a miraculous cure, I'd walk away, no brace,
0:54:55 > 0:54:57no nothing, and all my physical defects
0:54:57 > 0:54:59would magically have disappeared and I'd be
0:54:59 > 0:55:02running and swimming and cycling again.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05Or it wouldn't work, there'd be no change at all,
0:55:05 > 0:55:07and I'd go back dejected, a bit depressed,
0:55:07 > 0:55:09and worried about the future.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12In fact, I guess, as with life generally, it's in-between.
0:55:12 > 0:55:13There has been a change,
0:55:13 > 0:55:16not nearly as big a change as perhaps I'd hoped for.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19Frankly, for a stroke survivor, any change is good.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22But it's not "Pick up thy bed and walk."
0:55:22 > 0:55:25Yes, look at that. See that finger coming up?
0:55:28 > 0:55:30I couldn't do that before.
0:55:31 > 0:55:33And you can see, it's very small, but...
0:55:35 > 0:55:36There we go. Moving again.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38It wasn't doing that at all before.
0:55:45 > 0:55:50The sun has risen on an independent United Kingdom.
0:55:50 > 0:55:542016 has been a remarkable year for politics.
0:55:54 > 0:55:56Nothing you can do, folks.
0:55:56 > 0:55:58A turning point for good...
0:55:58 > 0:56:00or bad.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03She was a human being, and she was perfect.
0:56:03 > 0:56:07I am at least optimistic about the future of stroke treatment.
0:56:08 > 0:56:13What used to be an automatic life-sentence no longer is.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18Eight weeks after Billy Elder had stem-cell therapy,
0:56:18 > 0:56:22he is now able to move his once completely paralysed left arm.
0:56:25 > 0:56:26And a month after Florida,
0:56:26 > 0:56:30my physiotherapist, Jo, is encouraged.
0:56:30 > 0:56:32And just try and straighten that finger.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34Oh. Good movement.
0:56:34 > 0:56:36'When Andrew said he was going to go off and have this,
0:56:36 > 0:56:40'I'd never heard of it, so, obviously,
0:56:40 > 0:56:42'I went and looked it up.'
0:56:42 > 0:56:45'The independent review I found,'
0:56:45 > 0:56:48they were fairly damning about it.
0:56:48 > 0:56:53Having seen Andrew, now, for over three years, all I can say is,
0:56:53 > 0:56:56he went away, there was no movement in his foot...
0:56:56 > 0:56:59He's come back,
0:56:59 > 0:57:01he's got some movement in his foot.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05If we work hard for a year or so on this,
0:57:05 > 0:57:08do you think we have a good chance of getting a functional foot back,
0:57:08 > 0:57:10that doesn't need a brace on?
0:57:10 > 0:57:14- I don't know. I'll be completely honest, I don't know.- Mmm. Mmm.
0:57:14 > 0:57:15I'd love to say that.
0:57:15 > 0:57:17I'm more optimistic, I'm going to get movement back.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21I'm going to get rid of this brace. It's going to go, eventually.
0:57:21 > 0:57:25'I don't think we should be a people who accept things and shrug, and sort of'
0:57:25 > 0:57:28shrivel into our lot, if you put it like that.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31I think we have to carry on looking for answers and looking for solutions.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34It's the same with stroke, cancer, any major diseases,
0:57:34 > 0:57:37and we are lucky to be living when we do.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40So, what happens now?
0:57:40 > 0:57:44He has improved so much since he had the stroke.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47And I think that's what, you know, you need to concentrate on.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50Look at where he was when he came out of hospital.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53And, by the way, is anyone in charge?
0:57:53 > 0:57:55There is no magic bullet, because if there was,
0:57:55 > 0:57:59everyone would be after it, and there wouldn't be this great question mark.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02My only neutral BBC thought is this...
0:58:02 > 0:58:04If I want there to be any sort of lesson out of this,
0:58:04 > 0:58:06it's that it's worth never giving up.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09Probably, it won't be quite as good as you hope,
0:58:09 > 0:58:12nor quite as bad as you fear. Probably.
0:58:14 > 0:58:16We need tears now, Andrew.
0:58:16 > 0:58:19I'm sorry. I know the BBC has a special contract
0:58:19 > 0:58:23that I'm to burst into tears at one point in this programme,
0:58:23 > 0:58:24but I can't do it.
0:58:24 > 0:58:27I come from Dundee. THEY LAUGH